About this work
Social realist painter and illustrator Luke Fildes gained a reputation with his magazine illustrations, especially those for The Graphic, depicting the living conditions of the poor. In this scene from Dickens’s final, unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, however, he poses the figures in a well-to-do interior. Lightly shading the faces of the young ladies, Rosa Bud and Helena, and their three possible suitors, the artist establishes the romantic tension between them. His fine penwork recalls the intricate detail of earlier Victorian drawing.
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